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Italian Paintings 1250-1450

Seated on a draped throne, the Virgin holds the infant Jesus, whose foot is being kissed by the oldest of the three kings. Next to the throne Joseph leans on his walking stick. The other two kings stand, carrying golden receptacles. They are dressed as contemporary young men and wear crowns over typically Florentine hats known as mazzocchi. On the right is a groom with two horses.

Guilia Scaglia (1968) suggested that the old king was a portrait of the emperor Sigismund, based on the resemblance of his fur hat, resting on the ground beside him, to others in images of the ruler,1 who spent nine months in Siena, in 1432 and 1433, before going to Rome to be crowned on May 21, 1433. While Sigismund's features may have been familiar to the artist, it seems more likely that Schiavo, like others of his day, was simply inspired by foreign hats. Gentile da Fabriano, for example, painted a similar hat for the older king in his Strozzi Adoration of the Magi (see Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi, no. 295).

The landscape, the Holy Family group, and the contemporary dress of the two young Magi recall some of the elements of Masaccio's central predella panel from his Adoration of the Magi altarpiece of 1426 from the Carmine in Pisa.2

For further comments see Philadelphia Museum of Art, John G. Johnson Collection cat. 127 Predella panel of an altarpiece: Flight into Egypt Carl Brandon Strehlke, from Italian paintings, 1250-1450, in the John G. Johnson Collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2004, pp. 384-389.

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